Methods and apparatus for the dignified handling and burial of human remains have a long history of development, and people worldwide have evolved a variety of rituals and processes to fulfill these solemn tasks. One universal element in virtually all approaches to interment is a desire for a high degree of permanence in the processes invoked. Cremation of both human and animal remains also has a long history of usage in many cultures, and is recently becoming the process of choice for an increasingly large number of societies. Many factors are contributing to the recent shift away from conventional grave-site burials toward cremation, not the least of which are practical considerations. However, given the high cultural importance of burials, the primary humanitarian criteria for interment have always, and most likely will continue to prevail. These are: a universal desire for dignified handling of the deceased; a desire for permanence in the disposition of the resulting remains; and, oftentimes, a preference for a specific location for the final resting place of the remains.
Description of typical prior art approaches to processes and systems for producing and interment of cremated remains may be found in a number of U.S. patents.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,781,174 to Gardner and 3,770,215 to Wittke disclose processes for producing and handling cremation residues. In the 1988 Gardner patent, heat rays from the sun are concentrated and focused on a body as part of a funeral service to reduce it to ashes, and suggests presentation to the next of kin of ash compressed into a suitable urn for interment. The 1973 Wittke patent describes apparatus for receiving, cleaning, and comminuting cremation residues, and subsequently manually compressing the resulting ash into an urn.
A funiary urn in the form of a cylindrical canister is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,457 to Allen et al. The urn includes a cap having a plurality of detents that mate with a corresponding plurality of grooves in the canister's outer wall to provide a substantially gas-tight fit.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,990,198 to Ortutay and 3,529,730 to Thompson provide teachings of post-cremation burial of human remains contained in urns. In the Ortutay patent a self-retaining barrel vault is described wherein a plurality of urn-holding elements is configured to interlockingly form the vault walls. The 1970 patent to Thompson describes an open frame structure for the interment of a plurality of individual storage tube urns containing cremated remains.
While each of these prior art approaches teaches one or another aspect of producing, processing, and burial of cremated remains, it is the unique combination of compaction/containment that the present invention admirably provides with its elegant and straightforward containment tube approach.